Russian President Vladimir Putin is either "running scared" or "medically frail" as he dodges major televised events, it has been claimed.
After refusing to travel to the G-20 in Bali, the despot is forecast to avoid other televised events with the media, including his annual press conference in Moscow - in order to avoid being quizzed about Russian war failures in Ukraine.
While the major end-of-year session typically takes place between December 14 and 23, the Kremlin is refusing to confirm when it will exactly be.
And with the tyrant already having postponed his annual live Direct Line question and answer session with ordinary Russians, questions have been raised if he is doing this to avoid facing complaints over the war and his chaotic mobilisation.
However, Putin is instead likely to make an address to the Russian senate - called the Federation Council - “before the end of the year”.
It is claimed that this will be easier to stage manage, rather than being quizzed by the public or journalists even from the compliant state media.
This is because at the annual press conference, the President routinely faces being bombarded with questions from 500-plus Russian and also foreign journalists - in major televised events that can last for hours on end.
In order to resolve the issue, a decision had already been taken to bar the Western press from the press conference, a source told Mozhem Obyasnit Telegram channel.
And his spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, added that that normal key fixtures in Putin's itinerary could not be firmed up because his schedule is “very dynamic” and "the current situation is very fast-paced”.
The delays and lack of televised appearances have fuelled suspicions that Putin is running scared of scrutiny of his handling of the war, which the Kremlin has called a special military operation.
Others have been hypothesising that at the age of 70, he is not sufficiently healthy to endure the long sessions when he is under the world's gaze.
Since the war began in February, there have been significant speculations about Putin's medical condition including persistent - but unproven - rumours that he is suffering from cancer.
He had also expected Ukraine to be overrun within days of invading, but the conflict has now been underway for almost nine months - with little success for Putin.
Meanwhile, a plan to combine the despot's press conference and Direct Line also seems to have been ruled out - at least in the near future - as there now seems no appetite for this.
Peskov admitted: "The President has not decided yet on the exact timing for a number of events.
“Naturally, it wouldn’t be logical to hold them one after the other. They should be spaced out over time.
“Probably, the State of the Nation Address to the Federal Council is the most important one.
“Once its date is set, there will be better clarity with respect to other events and other formats.”
The press conference with Putin has been held annually in December for a decade.
